Last Wednesday at 12pm, a Student General Meeting was held to consider a new roster of OUSA Executive roles. Except it technically wasn't held. To change the constitution, the meeting needed 112 (around 0.5% of the student body) to show up. A solid 80 did. Imagine having to watch your friend schedule a 21st on a Friday and watching everyone leave at 9pm because they have “plans tomorrow, sorry”. That’s kind of how it felt.
It was looking a bit shaky from the get-go. At around 11:50, Postgrad Rep Fergus Parks was spotted putting up an OUSA banner, which then promptly fell over – a metaphor. Political Rep Flynn Nisbett came over and asked us to be “fair” in our reporting. Aw shucks, now we have to be.
The OUSA Executive for 2026 has been working on this proposal for about 6 months. Most of them were pretty chuffed with the proposed changes, which they said were designed by drawing on what worked and didn't work from their time on the job. OUSA and the Exec turned up in force, and there was even a sausage sizzle to lure students in. But the 12-strong Exec, many of whom won hundreds of votes each last year, could not rustle up 112 students by the time the clock struck 12:15 – when quorum had to be met. OUSA just couldn't get it up, despite President Daniel Leamy begging anyone in the crowd with “30 friends” to invite them to the function.
Administrative Vice-President Kamesha Jones told the crowd that "we really, really appreciate" everyone who’d come along, and encouraged them to run for next year’s Exec. "Being engaged in student politics is awesome." One student walked by Critic, muttering "I want my sausage."
The SGM was originally scheduled for August 18th, and was intended to include a hybrid governing board proposal that was subsequently scrapped. As early as July 28th, concerns were raised within the Exec that they weren't giving students enough time to fully digest the changes. Despite that, the Exec pushed forward, despite warnings from the OUSA Secretary it was constitutionally "irregular" (translation: not on) to change the Exec roles mere days before people had to put their hands up for them next year.
Throughout Exec meetings, there was an increasingly stressed acknowledgement from members that while the timing wasn't perfect, it was better to do something good now than have nothing to show for their work. Fair or not, the end result is the same. Now, any role changes will have to be carried out by the 2027 Exec, who will consist of people holding the current roles that this Exec just tried to restructure. Are you confused yet?
The meeting-not-a-meeting was exciting in the same way dying in the desert must be.
The headcounts crept up: 17, 23, 46 and then 76 students. The anxious, protracted countdown toward the inevitable outcome kept going and OUSA President Daniel Leamy made a futile appeal to the lunch-goers of Auahi Ora, while students dodged OUSA Exec members, saying they had classes to go to right that second, or that they would come back in a few minutes after a piss. A likely story.
There was some kōrero overheard, with students wondering why quorum was even necessary. As put by Daniel in last week’s Exec column, SGMs aren’t designed to be a “rubber stamp”. Constitutional changes require a two-thirds majority of students present, meaning the outcome depends entirely on who shows up. “Whether you think the proposed structure is a great step forward, have concerns about specific changes, or simply want to understand why the Executive believes reform is necessary, this is the forum to hear the arguments and make up your own mind,” he urged. But students weren’t convinced.
There will be a lot of blame and pain going about, but Critic’s opinion is that the fault has to lie with poor advertising and marshalling toward students. After all, this was the first SGM to fail quorum since 2022 – which had to wrestle COVID-19 restrictions. The OUSA Executive bottled it, and a role that two consecutive OUSA referendums supported was a casualty. Liam Melvin, the "sort-of" President of a budding Otago Disabled Student's Association, was disappointed that "we didn't make quorum, particularly as the Disabilities representative would have helped ensure equity on OUSA."
Hopefully this electile dysfunction doesn't extend to the OUSA Exec Elections that are fast approaching. Nominations open September 14th and close September 17th. Then campaigning begins. Voting opens online September 29th, and closes October 1st. Thankfully, voting is all online, so no need to wrangle 110 of your closest mates to the Main Common Room.
